Nearly 150 public and private school students in New Providence were given an opportunity to experience the major speed increases that Cable Bahamas introduced to over 45,000 REVON Internet subscribers on April 22.

The company created an exhibition called "The Connected Home" that was presented at center court in The Mall at Marathon in New Providence between April 20 and 26. The display provided a realistic demonstration of the impact that broadband Internet speeds of up to 70 megabits can have on a family's day-to-day life.

With two bedrooms, a living room and kitchen area set up, along with actors showing typical Internet usage in those situations, Cable Bahamas showed as many as 10 different devices receiving live video streams without any degradation in performance.

"Our goal was to give people a true experience of a real home environment with real life situations of Internet use," said Cable Bahamas Head of Marketing and REVON Product Manager David Burrows. "This is the first time in our country's history that this type of service has been seen in Bahamian households.

"So giving people a chance to feel it for themselves and compare living with Internet before the speed increase and seeing how it performs after the increase was very important."

Students from 10 public schools and nine private schools on New Providence visited the exhibition and were provided with a guided tour and presentation by Burrows. The information provided helped them gain a better understanding of the impact technology can have on their schoolwork and future careers.

Assistant Administrator and Computer Studies Teacher at Nassau Christian Academy Mrs. Bernice Ferguson attended the presentation with nearly 30 high school students. She stated that the information provided a broader understanding of the technology involved and how it all worked together.

“I thought it was amazing," Ferguson said. "I honestly didn't think that it could be that fast. My students said that they noticed a big difference right away with Cable Bahamas' new speeds. They told me that they don't have to wait for other family members to get off the Internet any more when they want to watch videos or play online video games. Students said that they went home and told their parents to switch their Internet service to Cable Bahamas right away, and I know at least two of them did just that."

Ferguson explained that the speed upgrades have been a boost for students at home as well as at the school computer labs.

"We have [REVON] Internet from Cable Bahamas at the school, and our teachers have already said that they see a definite impact when they are preparing their lessons. It has also improved how our school can operate," she said.

The school administrator also explained that the speed increases Cable Bahamas has now provided would help make students more productive. "A lot of the research that kids have to do involves work both at home and school," Ferguson said. "So I can see already that these speed increases that Cable Bahamas introduced will improve their overall ability to get work done faster."

Administrative Assistant to the Technical Cadet Corps Programme at BTVI Ivan Thompson also spoke of the impact that the Connected Home exhibition and presentation had on the nearly 80 BTVI cadets that attended.

"They were very surprised and excited about what they saw," Thompson said. "I wish that more of our cadets could have been exposed to the exhibition because of the important role that this kind of technology plays in their research work."

When asked if the five-times increase in Internet speeds would help improve the way students could perform at school, Thompson said, "Absolutely. Our students reported that they saw things happening at lightning speed, so there is no waiting for video to buffer, for example."

Thompson also expects the hike in access speeds could bode well for involving more students in the more advanced aspects of technology and engineering. "We see an increasing demand for work in these areas, and with Cable Bahamas support in this kind of work I think that more people will become interested."

Thousands of shoppers saw the displays and had the opportunity to view videos streaming from services such as YouTube, try online video games and other Internet-based services such as Facebook and Skype.

Cable Bahamas opened a new location at The Mall at Marathon in February, relocating its primary customer care and payment center. Cable Bahamas partnered with local retailers Best Buy Furniture and Master Technicians who supplied the display elements for The Connected Home exhibition.